Across the Corn Belt, record-setting warmth continues in advance of an approaching storm system.  On Monday, daily-record high temperatures included 70°F in Fargo, North Dakota, and 80°F in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Sioux City, Iowa.  Later Tuesday, high temperatures will broadly top 70°F as far north as southern Minnesota and central Wisconsin.  As the planting season approaches, soil moisture shortages exist in some areas, primarily from the Mississippi Valley westward.  

On the Plains, above-normal temperatures favor spring planting preparations and the development of winter grains. 

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